Thursday, February 01, 2007

As pointed out in an ESPN television graphic at the completion of last night's play, 17 seems to be the limit on men's basketball winning streaks, of late. Consider the following...

Wisconsin had its 17-game winning streak stopped last night at Indiana.

Clemson, which for a time this season was the nation's only remaining team with a perfect record, got as far as 17-0 before losing at Maryland in mid-January.

Defending NCAA champion Florida had a 17-game winning streak going (the last 11 games of the 2005-06 season and first six of the 2006-07 season) before losing to Kansas.

And finally, shifting to the NBA, the Phoenix Suns had their 17-game winning streak snapped in Minnesota this past Monday night.

At the college level, one could argue that if a team had an easy non-conference schedule, it would make sense that a long winning streak would end once conference play began (as long as the team was in a tough conference). In the NBA, I can't think of why a streak would be likely to end around the 17-game mark.